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Another example of the ridiculous blackouts of baseball content on the Sports Pack. We've all heard about the blackouts of shows like Tigers Weekly on Fox Sports Detroit for those outside of Detroit because supposedly it has enough MLB content that they don't have the rights to broadcast it out of market.

Well today it reached another low. Fox Sports Midwest's coverage of the Stan Musial funeral service is blacked out for those outside the FSM region.

Another example of the ridiculous blackouts of baseball content on the Sports Pack. We've all heard about the blackouts of shows like Tigers Weekly on Fox Sports Detroit for those outside of Detroit because supposedly it has enough MLB content that they don't have the rights to broadcast it out of market.

Well today it reached another low. Fox Sports Midwest's coverage of the Stan Musial funeral service is blacked out for those outside the FSM region.

Is there any way that we can put an end to this ridiculousness?

If they are using old clips from Stan Musial's career, then it's MLB's fault for wanting to charge FS Detroit the extra fees for broadcasting the MLB copyrighted material to the entire nation. IOW, it's all copyright issues and MLB holds the copyright.

DIRECTV employee April 2004-November 2012.
The above comments are my own because I don't know if anyone would care about my opinions anymore.

mlb.tv sucks big time. I subbed last season ($129.95) just to watch the Braves. All season, I got to watch exactly ZERO, ZIP, NADA Braves games on mlb. What a ripoff! Bait and switch if I ever saw one. That terribly negative experience just about killed my interest for the game I used to love.

mlb.tv sucks big time. I subbed last season ($129.95) just to watch the Braves. All season, I got to watch exactly ZERO, ZIP, NADA Braves games on mlb. What a ripoff! Bait and switch if I ever saw one. That terribly negative experience just about killed my interest for the game I used to love.

MLB.tv is out of market only for live. Archive games are available for all teams.

It is annoying, though, that you listen or watch your local team an they tout MLB.tv as a way to see every game your hometown team plays.

Another example of the ridiculous blackouts of baseball content on the Sports Pack. We've all heard about the blackouts of shows like Tigers Weekly on Fox Sports Detroit for those outside of Detroit because supposedly it has enough MLB content that they don't have the rights to broadcast it out of market.

Well today it reached another low. Fox Sports Midwest's coverage of the Stan Musial funeral service is blacked out for those outside the FSM region.

mlb.tv sucks big time. I subbed last season ($129.95) just to watch the Braves. All season, I got to watch exactly ZERO, ZIP, NADA Braves games on mlb. What a ripoff! Bait and switch if I ever saw one. That terribly negative experience just about killed my interest for the game I used to love.

You live in Georgia, right? Can you just watch the Braves locally on TV?

mlb.tv sucks big time. I subbed last season ($129.95) just to watch the Braves. All season, I got to watch exactly ZERO, ZIP, NADA Braves games on mlb. What a ripoff! Bait and switch if I ever saw one. That terribly negative experience just about killed my interest for the game I used to love.

Did for me too. The NEAREST stadium is 300+ miles from me, however, they black out not only that team, but 3 others that "claim" we are in their home territory. I got fed up and quit subscribing over 4 years ago. Now I just watch college games on a C/KU band system when available.

The Rays announcers definitely don't mention it as a way to see the Rays, only as a way to see "out-of-market games." I assume all the local announcers are using the same MLB-approved script for the actual plug -- although maybe some lead into it in a way that suggests it's a way to see the local team? (Or maybe people don't realize "out-of-market games" is not the same thing as "away games"?)

The Rays announcers definitely don't mention it as a way to see the Rays, only as a way to see "out-of-market games." I assume all the local announcers are using the same MLB-approved script for the actual plug -- although maybe some lead into it in a way that suggests it's a way to see the local team? (Or maybe people don't realize "out-of-market games" is not the same thing as "away games"?)

Nope. I don't listen to/watch the Rays, so I can't say what they say but I have only once or twice heard an announcer mention that local games are blacked out. They will say something more like "see all your Cardinal games on MLB.tv" or something like that. Not a formal announcement, just a quick note during a game. Have heard the same on radio broadcasts all over the country via XM.

I've also heard it advertised quite frequently as a way to watch the team you are currently watching. The most annoying ad I remember last year was during a Fox Saturday Baseball game the script advertised Extra Innings on DIRECTV as a way to see EVERY game. Sorry MLB, it doesn't matter where you live in the US, Extra Innings or not there is no way to see every game without violating your user agreements.

How difficult would it be for MLB/Directv to open up all MLB programming (except certain live games) to those Sports Pack subscribers who also subscribe to MLB EI?

MLB would just not charge those RSNs the copyrights fees for national audience, but would allow those who pay for EI on top of Sports Pack to see it.

It would make perfect sense for MLB if they were so determined to protect that revenue. Instead they'd rather just piss off the fans who give them the most money because they know you will still purchase EI regardless.

It would make perfect sense for MLB if they were so determined to protect that revenue. Instead they'd rather just piss off the fans who give them the most money because they know you will still purchase EI regardless.

It is actually small potatoes to them. Only directv customers have EI and out of market RSNs available to them and few have both. It means little financially either way.

It's such small potatoes it's annoying they bother blacking it out. Were there really people who subscribed to "Sports Pack" in the past that saw enough coverage of their team in the weekly highlight shows it was the deciding factor in them not purchasing Extra Innings? At most this was 7 total subscribers.